Boat maintenance costs, tips, techniques to care for your boat





Boat maintenance costs are small compared to the cost of repairing a boat that has been neglected.

Like most people maintenance is not my favorite thing to do, and yes, I sometimes let maintenance details go for too long, and end up dealing with more of mess than I would have if I had taken the proper steps earlier.overdue boat maintenance

Take last fall for instance,

I was busy with too many projects, it had been raining for weeks, and I didn't put the boat cover on, and I didn't deal with the boat for a number of weeks.

This is what I ended up with.

Luckily, the only real issue was what was growing on the supplies in the boat trunk.

Woops.
boat maintenance

Everything inside the boat storage trunk was covered with a fine white fungus, and mildew had started to take hold.

Luckily, I caught it before the mildew was too severe, and it could be washed out.

I used my favorite cleaner, TKO, which is an orange peel based cleaner. It works great on so many things I thought I would try it.

I scrubbed all the gear in a strong solution of TKO and everything came out clean.

I share this example because had I let it go any longer I would have been replacing a bunch of mildewed gear.

Boat maintenance is best done sooner than later!

What supplies do I use for boat cleaning? There are many different cleaners that are available specifically for inflatable boats. A simple solution of soap and water works the best for regular cleaning, but the stubborn stains may need something more.

How do I clean my boat? During the boating season I simply wash with water. If I am in salt water I simply sponge the boat with salt water. I try to clean out sand and fishing slime with a sponge and water. When packing it up I rinse off the worst of the slime with salt water.

Once I am back in fresh water, I rinse everything down to remove the salt water.

The only real cleaning I give the boat is in the fall before I store it for the winter. This is when it gets a good soap and water scrub down, stubborn stains get washed off, and it gets coated with a suitable protectant.

Yes, that is it..... once a year I scrub the whole boat..... so my boat maintenance costs are very minimal. The cleaner I use and protectant bottle will last for a number of years before I use them up.

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